$1.8M pavement project making Coast Highway a smoother drive

ENCINITAS —— The scenic drive along portions of South Coast
Highway 101 is a lot smoother this week now that crews have begun a
$1.8 million, street-paving program.

The road work is scheduled to continue through Aug. 19 from K
Street south to the Solana Beach city limit, city engineer Kipp
Hefner said Thursday.

Commuters can expect delays as workers close lanes for
construction, Hefner said. With one lane closed during the Thursday
morning commute, a 1/4-mile-long backup of southbound vehicles
inched past Cardiff State Beach.

An average of 23,000 vehicles travel that portion of highway
daily, according to the city's engineering department.

Next week, workers with Hazard Construction Co. are scheduled to
coat the entire stretch with a 2-inch-thick layer of fresh
blacktop.

The pavement Encinitas has ordered contains rubber from recycled
tires. "Rubberized" asphalt is said to have the added advantage of
reducing noise.

Before the "overlay" of blacktop can begin, workers operate a
grinding machine the size of a panel truck to dig out potholes,
cracks and other damage caused by the winter's punishing rains.

The machine grinds away damaged asphalt, which rides on a
conveyor belt into a dump truck that hauls it away. Much of the
asphalt is recycled, Hefner said.

The heavily potholed highway is one of 33 streets scheduled for
paving through mid-September across the 19.4-square-mile city.
Encinitas maintains 163 miles of streets.

Encinitas' southern stretch of highway, with few curbs or
gutters, is especially vulnerable to damage because storm runoff
runs beneath the asphalt, causing the ground below to sink.

The City Council in May approved a $1.8 million contract for the
road work. That's $900,000 more than it has spent annually in
recent years.

The budget for this year's "Pavement Rehabilitation and Overlay
Project" includes funds left over from the previous fiscal year, as
well as a separate $445,000 set aside for paving the highway.

City streets are paved once every 10 years, Hefner said.

Damaged streets have produced many a phone call to City Hall
from motorists.

"This is probably the most aggressive overlay program we've had
in some time, for that reason," Hefner said.

The details

These are the streets included in Encinitas' $1.8M pavement
program for 2005: